IN YOUR OPINION

Letters to the editor for Aug. 2, 2014

Published: Saturday, August 2, 2014 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, August 1, 2014 at 4:51 p.m.

Imposing their will

I for one am tired of reading editorials in this paper from conservative columnists proclaiming Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas. No one really argues otherwise. The problem is that Israel believes that it has the right to do whatever it deems necessary to defend itself, regardless of the humanitarian cost to the Palestinian people.

Over the years, Israel has attacked with all its military might both Gaza and the West Bank, killing untold numbers of innocent civilians. When the Assad regime in Syria attacks its own people in the name of fighting terrorism, it is roundly condemned for committing atrocities. Not so Israel. It always portrays itself as the victim.

Yes, it is true that Hamas indiscriminately fires rockets into Israel, and that is certainly terrorism. But, it is equally true that Israel deliberately fires missiles and shells into residential communities, and that is no less terrorism. A missile fired from a plane or shell fired from a tank into civilian population is no less a means of terrorism than a bomb planted in a car on a city street.

It is an old story. The strong always seem to oppress the weak. But given the Jewish history, and the shift in the balance of power, one might have hoped that things would have been different this time. So, it is indeed a sad comment on the nature of mankind that the strong cannot seem to resist imposing their will on the weak. I guess some things will never change.

Dennis Phillips

Ocala

Climate change denial

Energy — it puts the spark in flora, fauna, machines and politics. We all crave it, and the search for it is frantic.

Flora reaches for the sun however they can. Fauna eats everything in sight to steal their energy. Machines are greedy guzzlers of energy, but since they are man-made, man has to supply them. To do that, we have tapped the remains of the Jurassic era (coal, oil and gas) as fuel, which they generously return to the atmosphere.

We are now starting to tap a large layer of methane trapped on the ocean floor. This has been great, but danger lurks. All this Jurassic residue in the atmosphere is helping to change our climate, so a big change is coming. Will we be ready for it?

There have been changes before (climate and plate) or we wouldn't have oil and gas deposits in the Arctic or our northern geography sculpted by a monstrous glacier — but our modern civilization could not cope with these conditions.

Republicans who deny our effect on climate change really know better but are obeying their puppet master — greed. Perhaps if President Obama came out denying climate change, Republicans would approve green energy projects out of sheer orneriness.

Bill Bass

Ocala

Justice for all

Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida (CLSMF) is a civil legal aid program that assures fairness for all in the justice system, regardless of how much money one has. CLSMF handles a wide variety of issues, including mortgage foreclosure, domestic violence, veterans' benefits, consumer, Social Security and education cases.

However, our funding is limited and our staff is not able to serve all the people asking for legal help.

Therefore, I want to acknowledge the assistance and support that the Marion County Bar Association attorneys provide for our clients. Last year, Marion County attorneys provided 313 hours of free (pro bono) help for our clients, which is valued at $78,000. In addition, individual attorneys donated $13,650 and the Bar Association donated $1,000 to CLSMF, which greatly helps us serve more clients.

These volunteer efforts help solve real problems in our community that greatly affect people's lives.

Kudos to the Marion County Bar Association.

Bill Abbuehl

Executive Director

Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida

Daytona Beach

Protecting the innocents

I suggest that all those interested in saving innocent children and women in Gaza and Israel should make an immediate arrangement for Hamas to disclose the locations of a few tunnels suitable to hold a large number of such potential victims, so that they could be housed in the tunnels until the end of this war. After which Israel could then destroy the tunnels.

I believe they are built sufficiently well to protect the innocent. Medical facilities could be provided by the international community to handle those in need. It might take several tunnels to house all the potential innocents of both sides for as long as it takes to finish this war.

Israel and Egypt, perhaps with international cooperation, could seal off the exits of the tunnels so they could not be used for hiding terrorists or weapons for future use.

I believe it would be relatively easy to monitor those who qualify as "innocents" and arrange for transportation and minimal supplies needed to safeguard them until a true cessation of the war is arranged.

It might also be possible to house some Palestinians in the existing established refugee camps as a temporary expedient. Many are located in friendly Arab lands far from the ravages of war.

It would need the cooperation of many on all sides to accomplish this. Then all sides could concentrate on the killing so this long-term war that started the day the U.N. created Israel so many decades ago can come to a conclusion. The original plan to destroy Israel on that original birthday never succeeded and probably never will.

<p><b>Imposing their will</b></p><p>I for one am tired of reading editorials in this paper from conservative columnists proclaiming Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas. No one really argues otherwise. The problem is that Israel believes that it has the right to do whatever it deems necessary to defend itself, regardless of the humanitarian cost to the Palestinian people.</p><p>Over the years, Israel has attacked with all its military might both Gaza and the West Bank, killing untold numbers of innocent civilians. When the Assad regime in Syria attacks its own people in the name of fighting terrorism, it is roundly condemned for committing atrocities. Not so Israel. It always portrays itself as the victim.</p><p>Yes, it is true that Hamas indiscriminately fires rockets into Israel, and that is certainly terrorism. But, it is equally true that Israel deliberately fires missiles and shells into residential communities, and that is no less terrorism. A missile fired from a plane or shell fired from a tank into civilian population is no less a means of terrorism than a bomb planted in a car on a city street.</p><p>It is an old story. The strong always seem to oppress the weak. But given the Jewish history, and the shift in the balance of power, one might have hoped that things would have been different this time. So, it is indeed a sad comment on the nature of mankind that the strong cannot seem to resist imposing their will on the weak. I guess some things will never change.</p><p><i>Dennis Phillips</p><p>Ocala</i></p><p> </p><p><b>Climate change denial</b></p><p>Energy — it puts the spark in flora, fauna, machines and politics. We all crave it, and the search for it is frantic.</p><p>Flora reaches for the sun however they can. Fauna eats everything in sight to steal their energy. Machines are greedy guzzlers of energy, but since they are man-made, man has to supply them. To do that, we have tapped the remains of the Jurassic era (coal, oil and gas) as fuel, which they generously return to the atmosphere.</p><p>We are now starting to tap a large layer of methane trapped on the ocean floor. This has been great, but danger lurks. All this Jurassic residue in the atmosphere is helping to change our climate, so a big change is coming. Will we be ready for it?</p><p>There have been changes before (climate and plate) or we wouldn't have oil and gas deposits in the Arctic or our northern geography sculpted by a monstrous glacier — but our modern civilization could not cope with these conditions.</p><p>Republicans who deny our effect on climate change really know better but are obeying their puppet master — greed. Perhaps if President Obama came out denying climate change, Republicans would approve green energy projects out of sheer orneriness.</p><p><i>Bill Bass</p><p>Ocala</i></p><p> </p><p><b>Justice for all</b></p><p>Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida (CLSMF) is a civil legal aid program that assures fairness for all in the justice system, regardless of how much money one has. CLSMF handles a wide variety of issues, including mortgage foreclosure, domestic violence, veterans' benefits, consumer, Social Security and education cases.</p><p>However, our funding is limited and our staff is not able to serve all the people asking for legal help.</p><p>Therefore, I want to acknowledge the assistance and support that the Marion County Bar Association attorneys provide for our clients. Last year, Marion County attorneys provided 313 hours of free (pro bono) help for our clients, which is valued at $78,000. In addition, individual attorneys donated $13,650 and the Bar Association donated $1,000 to CLSMF, which greatly helps us serve more clients.</p><p>These volunteer efforts help solve real problems in our community that greatly affect people's lives.</p><p>Kudos to the Marion County Bar Association.</p><p><i>Bill Abbuehl</p><p>Executive Director</p><p>Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida</p><p>Daytona Beach</i></p><p> </p><p><b>Protecting the innocents</b></p><p>I suggest that all those interested in saving innocent children and women in Gaza and Israel should make an immediate arrangement for Hamas to disclose the locations of a few tunnels suitable to hold a large number of such potential victims, so that they could be housed in the tunnels until the end of this war. After which Israel could then destroy the tunnels.</p><p>I believe they are built sufficiently well to protect the innocent. Medical facilities could be provided by the international community to handle those in need. It might take several tunnels to house all the potential innocents of both sides for as long as it takes to finish this war.</p><p>Israel and Egypt, perhaps with international cooperation, could seal off the exits of the tunnels so they could not be used for hiding terrorists or weapons for future use.</p><p>I believe it would be relatively easy to monitor those who qualify as "innocents" and arrange for transportation and minimal supplies needed to safeguard them until a true cessation of the war is arranged.</p><p>It might also be possible to house some Palestinians in the existing established refugee camps as a temporary expedient. Many are located in friendly Arab lands far from the ravages of war.</p><p>It would need the cooperation of many on all sides to accomplish this. Then all sides could concentrate on the killing so this long-term war that started the day the U.N. created Israel so many decades ago can come to a conclusion. The original plan to destroy Israel on that original birthday never succeeded and probably never will.</p><p><i>Bob Poris</p><p>Ocala</i></p>